WASHINGTON DC, KOMPAS.com – Intelligence United States of America (US) suspected that China is developing super soldiers with biologically enhanced abilities.
China is even said to have carried out human testing on members of the People’s Liberation Army NBC News on Friday (5/12/20).
John Ratcliffe, director of national intelligence, put the claim in long opinion Wall Street Journal. He also stated that China is a major national security threat to the US in that opinion.
“There are no ethical boundaries to pursuing power in Beijing,” wrote Ratcliffe, a former Republican member of the Texas Congress.
However, his office and the CIA have yet to respond to requests for details on the idea that China is trying to create a “super army” depicted in Hollywood films, for example. Captain America, Bloodshot, and Universal Soldier.
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Last year, two American scholars wrote a paper examining China’s ambitions to apply biotechnology to the battlefield.
China is also said to be interested in using gene engineering technology to improve the performance of humans – and possibly soldiers.
In particular, scholars are exploring Chinese research that makes use of the genetic engineering tool CRISPR.
CRISPR has been used to treat genetic diseases and modify plants. But Western scientists still consider it unethical to manipulate genes to improve the performance of healthy people.
“While the potential use of CRISPR to enhance human capabilities in future battlefields remains only a possible hypothesis at present.”
“There are indications that Chinese military researchers are starting to explore its potential,” wrote Elsa Kania, a Chinese defense technology expert at the Center for a New American Security, and Wilson VornDick, a China affairs consultant and former US Navy officer.
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“Chinese military scientists and strategists have consistently emphasized that biotechnology can become a new strategic command in future revolutions in the military sector,” the experts wrote, citing a 2015 article in a military newspaper.
A prominent Chinese general, they said, said in 2017 that modern biotechnology and its integration with information, nanotechnology and the cognitive domains etc. would have a revolutionary influence on weapons and equipment, combat space, forms of warfare and military theory.
VornDick noted in a telephone interview that he cares less about the battlefield advantages such research might provide than about the consequences of damaging human genes.
“When we start playing with genetic organisms, there may be unexpected consequences,” he said.
To date, representatives of the Chinese government did not respond to requests for comment.
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